Sport

Aryan Juyal’s unbeaten 150 guided Uttar Pradesh to a rain-hit win over Assam in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Bengal, Vidarbha and Baroda also registered victories, with Mukesh Kumar, Darshan Nalkande and Krunal Pandya starring in their respective matches

Arsenal ended the year top of the Premier League after a 4-1 win over Aston Villa at the Emirates. Goals from Gabriel Magalhães, Martín Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus sealed victory, keeping Arsenal five points clear of Manchester City

Magnus Carlsen defended his world blitz crown in Doha, winning a record ninth title after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov. India’s Arjun Erigaisi settled for bronze, becoming only the second Indian male after Viswanathan Anand to win a World Blitz medal

Rudra Rao’s unbeaten 87 and Mahaprasada’s fluent 52 powered Pallavi Model School (Alwal) to an eight-wicket win over Gowtham Model School (Ameerpet) in the HCA Inter-schools and Districts under-14 cricket quarterfinal at Hyderabad

Aryan Mehta’s brilliant century of 137 helped Himachal Pradesh secure a draw against Hyderabad in the Vijay Merchant Trophy fifth-round match at Vijayawada. Hyderabad’s Aditya Vardhan scored 82, while Hardik Sharma claimed four wickets in the evenly fought contest

Five more Indian referees and assistant referees, including Rachana Kamani, Ashwin Kumar and Aditya Purkayastha, have been added to the FIFA International List of Match Officials 2026. With this, India now has 19 officials on the prestigious list

David Kripal’s unbeaten century and Abdul Rafeay’s fluent half-century guided Mahbubnagar to a commanding 10-wicket win over Hyderabad in the Kaka Venkatswamy Memorial Telangana Inter-district T20 cricket championship

Hyderabad’s Abhirath Reddy and Pragnay Reddy struck brilliant centuries but their efforts went in vain as Baroda posted 417 and won by 37 runs in a high-scoring Vijay Hazare Trophy preliminary round match at Rajkot

Telangana emerged overall champions in the third National Sports Aerobics Fitness Championship held in Salem, Tamil Nadu, scoring 734 points. Tamil Nadu finished second with 640 points. Telangana athletes won medals across multiple age categories, showcasing strong performances in solo and team events

SBI Life Insurance, in partnership with BCCI, organised a special meet and greet for five young girls from Udayan NGO, Kolkata, with the Indian women’s cricket team in Visakhapatnam, inspiring them to dream fearlessly and pursue their ambitions with confidence

Olympic champion Andre De Grasse has been named International Event Ambassador for the 21st Tata Mumbai Marathon, scheduled for January 18, 2026, adding global stature to Asia’s premier World Athletics Gold Label race.

The Pro Wrestling League has announced six franchises and scheduled its player auction for January 3 ahead of Season Five. Over 300 wrestlers from more than 20 countries are set to feature as PWL returns after a six-year hiatus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi for winning bronze at the World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha. Erigaisi’s achievement, alongside his recent World Rapid bronze, highlights India’s growing prominence in global chess

Representing the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD), Snehit produced one of the standout performances of the tournament by stunning two of India’s leading stars—Manav Thakkar and Ankur Bhattacharjee—on his way to the men’s singles final

Torch Relay (Kreeda Jyothi) programmes will be conducted at district headquarters on January 8, 9, 10, and 11

Addya finished on top with 42 hits, while Uttar Pradesh’s Sabeera Haris pushed her close till the latter stages but had to settle for silver with 41

Irfan and Tanish played well for the winners, while Anand and Aravind put up a good show for the losers in the OU inter-college badminton

Delhi defeated Saurashtra by three wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group D match at Alur. Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya struck fifties, while Navdeep Saini contributed with bat and ball. Delhi now lead Group D with 12 points

Dhruv Jurel’s unbeaten 160 and Rinku Singh’s 63 powered Uttar Pradesh to a 54-run win over Baroda in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. With their third successive victory, UP lead Group B with 12 points after three rounds

Shardul Thakur’s four-wicket burst and Shams Mulani’s five-for helped Mumbai beat Chhattisgarh by nine wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Siddhesh Lad guided the chase as Mumbai consolidated their lead in Group C with 12 points

India aim to complete a 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka in the final women’s T20I at Thiruvananthapuram. Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh have starred, while debutant Vaishnavi Sharma impressed with four wickets in the series

Hanamkonda registered back-to-back wins in the Telangana Gold Cup East Zone league, defeating Mulugu by 27 runs and Mahabubabad by 51 runs at Kakatiya University Ground, Warangal. Aditya Sai and Vishnudas Shashank starred with match-winning performances

Oriana LnCo Advisors won the Platinum Cup at the FTCCI-NMDC President’s Cup 2025, defeating Granules India by 13 runs. ProArch, Sudhakar PVC and NMDC Corporate also clinched titles in their respective categories in the corporate cricket tournament held in Hyderabad

Prof Rajesh Kumar of Osmania University has been appointed convenor for TG CET 2026. The Telangana Council of Higher Education named convenors from JNTUH, Kakatiya University, Mahatma Gandhi University and Osmania University to oversee computer-based tests for admissions in 2026-27